Brothers in Arms
by Naisa
Summary: I love writing, but this is my first fanfic! Don't usually support Methur, but this idea just came to me. It's about what happens when Merlin and Arthur are attacked in the forest by some mysterious brothers and Arthur finds out about Merlin's secret...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

There was something unnerving about somewhere that you had never been before, but deep down you had a feeling that you knew it, that you _had _been there before, but the questions when and why cannot be answered. This was what Morgana was feeling right now.

The trees were pressing in on all sides, impossibly close together. It was getting dark, the few rays of sunlight that had managed to fight their way though the merciless trees were dying out. Morgana knew she had to get out of the woods, but she didn't know the way, she couldn't quite remember how she had got there. She looked around to try and gather her bearings.

Her stomach lurched.

She was not alone.

There was a camp; there were other people around. There were three tents, standing up close to each other, people had been living in the area, and for quite a long time it seemed. There were cooking pots scattered around the floor and what looked like a fire that had been recently stamped out by an urgent foot. But there was something more, something eerie. It wasn't the clothes hanging in the trees, like some dead animal, it wasn't the spell books, it wasn't the randomly discarded sword.

It was the blood.

There was blood everywhere.

The smell of metal filled the air, it was so pungent it made Morgana's eyes water, the crimson colour stained the grass all around. What had happened here?

There was a voice, a voice she recognised, a voice that she had heard so many times, it sounded as if it was in pain, or deep sorrow. Morgana screwed up her eyes; she didn't want to see what had happened. Her heart was pounding in her ears; the sight of the blood made her feel as if she was about to be sick.

There was a sudden jolt in the pit her stomach, as if her horse had made an unexpected jump and landed back on the ground with surprising force. Morgana had worked out what had happened, even without seeing it. She backed away, her eyes still tight shut, shaking her head slowly in disbelief. But she wasn't looking at what was behind her, Morgana's eyes snapped open and she found herself tripping over a tree root and falling backwards.

Falling into her own bed.

Morgana gasped and woke up, a ring of gold flashed in her eyes as she sat up abruptly. A set of draws near her bed suddenly fell out, but she ignored them. What worried her most was about what happened in her dream.

Cold sweat trickled down the side of her face, like a snake sliding delicately towards its prey, as she remembered how the many dreams she had had, seeped into reality like water through a crack. Or blood.

There was an awful lot of blood.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Merlin walked slowly through the wood, enjoying the cool breeze gently ruffle his hair and the brief glimpses of sun through the trees were warm and welcoming. When he finally had some spare time and no one was bossing him around, when Gaius wasn't making him do any chores, this was how he wanted to spend it. Alone in the peace and quiet with just his thoughts for company.

Though he had a very strong feeling that he was not alone.

Someone, or something, was following him.

He first realised this when he heard a few snappings of twigs, at first he thought of it as nothing but a bird in the tree or a deer, but the sounds that were coming from behind him seemed to be always just behind him. Merlin had never been to this part of the forest before, and as another shiver of fear crept up him he realised why, every time he turned around, he was sure he saw something duck behind a tree. Trying to convince himself that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, he carried on walking and for a few moments the sounds of snapping twigs and rustling leaves died away.

But then the thing behind him began to pick up speed.

Panicking, Merlin too began to pick up speed, running through the forest, his heart pounding in his ears. All he could hear was the rushing of the wind in his ears and the padding footsteps behind him.

Suddenly, the footsteps behind him died away, and Merlin hafted, panting in a clearing surrounded by trees. Had the thing that was chasing him gone? Was there anything chasing him at all?

When Merlin got his breath back and stopped panicking, he started tofeel a bit foolish that he had turned and ran at the faintest of noises. Like a coward. He tried to tell himself that running away was probably a good thing, it could have been anything. Who knows what was hiding out in the unexplored forests, pondering over their dark and evil thoughts...

Something jumped out the trees from just behind him, and almost landed on his back. Merlin cried out in fear and tried to fight off the thing that was clinging onto his shoulders. He heard laughter from just behind his ear, and turned to find himself face to face with his attacker.

"Arthur!" He almost yelled in annoyance, "that wasn't funny!"

"I disagree!" Arthur could bearly reply because he was so full of laughter. "Your face Merlin, it was brilliant! I would pay to see that again!"

His face was so full of joy, which Merlin thought was perhaps a rare thing, Arthur was under so much pressure of being a Prince and trying to please everyone and the prospect of being a King one day it was probably hard to find time to have fun. As the laughter echoed through the trees, even he began to grin, even though he felt he had suffered a major heart attack.

"It's surprisingly hard to track you Merlin, you have very good hearing, and panic very easily, but you won't be able to escape from me! I caught up with you eventually." Arthur said after he had finally calmed down enough to speak properly. "So what's my favourite manservant doing out here all on his own?"

"I'm your only manservant." Merlin said still smiling. "And I was going to ask you the same question."

"I just felt like following you, finding out what you get up to on your own, you can never trust anyone you know." Arthur replied, ruffling Merlin's hair playfully, which he knew always annoyed him.

"Well I was trying to savour my spare time and avoid people bossing me around, like you!" Merlin said irritated, looking around at the trees as he attempted to get his hair the way it was before, and failing. "Why did you come alone? I thought your father didn't like that."

"He doesn't." Said Arthur, who had finally stopped walking and began to stroll through the forest.

"So why did you come alone?" Merlin asked, jogging to catch up with him.

"Because we can do this," Arthur grinned, slipping his hand subtly into Merlin's.

"Oh yeah," Merlin grinned back, giving Arthur's hand a small squeeze.

They walked along together, hand in hand, for quite sometime, each in deep thought. They had first realised their true feelings for one another when the hatred they felt for each other and burnt out, and all was left was a realisation that one would do anything for the other, even if it meant death. Arthur that it would be best to keep what they had to themselves and not let anyone else know. At first Merlin was annoyed at the idea, but he had got used to keeping secrets, and he wasn't sure whether their relationship together actually meant something to Arthur or was just doing it for fun. On a number of occasions he tried to talk about with Arthur, but he always replied the same way:

"I care about you Merlin, and for now that's all that matters." This gave Merlin a horrible feeling that Arthur was lying to him, or he also did not really know the answer to the question.

It was Merlin who decided to break the silence fist and say something. He was glad that Arthur had followed him through the forest, it was a lot better than spending time with his own thoughts alone, but now another thought came into his mind, which worried him greatly;

"Arthur?"

"Hmm?" Said Arthur, snapping out of his daydream.

"Where are we?"

"Ah, good question."

Neither seemed to have realised that the trees had got closer together, blocking out the sunlight more and more, and that they had no idea where they had come from and which way they had been walking. Arthur was the first to grown with annoyance:

"Great, we're lost!" He broke free from Merlin's hand; "this is all your fault you know."

"How is it my fault?" Merlin asked. "Look it can't be that bad, we'll find our way back somehow."

"What do you suggest we do? Ask directions from a rabbit?"

"If we keep on going we might get out of the forest, and then we'll be able to work out where we are."

"Yes but we could turn up anywhere." Arthur pointed out

"Oh yes of course because this is a magical forest!" Merlin said sarcastically.

"That's not funny Merlin," Arthur glared at him. "Let's just try and head back, we might be able to recognise where we went."

"Really? All the trees look the same to me."

"Do you want to get back to Camelot or would you rather camp out here for the night?" Arthur asked, irritated.

"No," Merlin sighed. He looked around, it did seem to be getting darker, he didn't know how long he had been out in the forest, but soon it would become night and he didn't want to stay out in this forest after the sun had set.

The two turned back and began to walk through the forest with Arthur leading the way. Merlin hoped that Arthur knew where he was going, but he had a strong feeling that he was depending on pure guesswork.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Merlin asked, after what seemed like a lifetime walking through the forest.

"Yes."

"Oh, it just seems like we're walking around in circles."

"I know which way we're going," said Arthur.

"Oh, so how far is it to Camelot then?"

"I don't know."

"I thought you just said you knew which way we were going."

"Shut up Merlin!" Arthur snapped, which was his usual reply when he could think of nothing else to say.

For once Merlin did shut up, and by the time he spoke again it had defiantly gone dark and every now and then he thought he saw glimpses of the moon and stars staring at them through the trees, which still looked all the same to him. Merlin could barely see ten feet in front of him, and he mainly guessed where Arthur was by the sound of snapping twigs, and grunts as he almost walked into a tree.

All day, Merlin thought that they were the only people in this forest, but now he saw something else, flickering between the trees just ahead of them.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing at the light, not realising how loud and far his voice would carry through the forest at night.

"Shh!" Said Arthur hurriedly, "I don't know."

"Looks like a fire," Merlin whispered back.

"And would you care to explain how a fire got itself here in the first place?" Arthur hissed back.

Merlin shrugged, "other people? Which means we're definitely going the wrong way, I don't remember seeing any people before."

"Yes alright Merlin we're still lost, let it go for now."

"Well why don't we go and find out who they are, maybe they're from Camelot and could help us get back."

"Or maybe not," Arthur growled, unsheathing his sword, which Merlin had not realised had been hanging on his belt all the time.

They crept closer towards the flickering fire, everything was slowly getting brighter, the trees were drenched with a yellow colour, and Merlin could once again see Arthur's face clearly. He also began to see a campsite alongside the fire. There were three tents, and he was sure he could hear some voices close by.

It seemed like an age before they reached the campsite, Merlin could tell Arthur was worried about what they might encounter when they reached it, but when they did, there didn't seem to be anything there.

The fire burned brightly, Merlin began to feel warm again, with all that had been happening throughout the day, he hadn't realised how cold it had become. Surrounding the fire was a collection of cooking pots, and three white tents that he had seen before. What was more worrying was the spell book that sat beside the fire, and the fact there were three tents, but only one person sitting beside the fire. The man beside the fire hadn't seemed to notice them yet, it was only until they were right on top of him that he looked out.

The man looked as if he was in his thirties, though it was hard to tell, he had dark brown hair that stopped just above his shoulders, and he had bright blue eyes. The man's clothes reminded Merlin a bit of the druids that he had encountered before, but he knew that it certainly wasn't one. When the man stood up to face them, Merlin was shocked to realise how tall he was, he towered over the two of them, but this didn't stop Arthur.

"We mean you no harm," he said slowly and clearly, as if he thought the man didn't speak English. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The man didn't reply, he simply gave Arthur a horrible, cruel smile, showing sharp white teeth that would belong to a big cat rather than a human, though Merlin didn't seem to notice this;

"Arthur," he whispered in his ear as he looked up at the trees.

"Not now Merlin." Arthur snapped back, he was getting slightly uneasy with the look the man was giving him.

"But there's no wind."

"Why is that so important?"

"Because there's no wind, but the trees are moving."

Arthur looked up, Merlin was right. There definitely was no breeze, but the trees just above the campsite were moving, as if some large animal was jumping from branch to branch.

"We should go," Merlin said hurriedly, but Arthur didn't move.

"Don't worry Merlin, nothing here can hurt us."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Arthur Pendragon," the man with the sharp teeth suddenly hissed.

There were two loud thuds, as something fell out of the trees and landed beside the stranger. At first Merlin thought that they were some sort of creatures, snakes that had fallen out the trees and now lay coiled on either side of the stranger. But then they stood up, and they were not snakes, they were men. What was most unnerving however was the fact that the three men now standing in front of him and Arthur looked exactly the same, even their clothes were the same. All apart from their eyes, one had brown eyes and the other had green eyes.

"Right, now that you're all here, I'm going to repeat the question." Said Arthur, trying to hide the fear in his voice, "who are you and what are you doing here? And how do you know my name?"

"So many questions, so little time." Said the one with green eyes.

"Arthur," Merlin hissed.

"What now?" Arthur said, annoyed that Merlin was distracting him.

"They all look the same!"

"Yes Merlin I can see that!"

"What do you think we should do with them brothers?" Said the man with blue eyes to his fellows; all three had the same cruel smile on their faces.

"Can you believe it? The two great legends-to-be lost in the forest, trying to hide their fear, but you can see it in their eyes." The man with brown eyes replied.

"Arthur, I really think we should go now." Merlin murmured, slowly backing away, knowing what all three of the men were thinking even before they said it:

"Kill them." Said the one with green eyes.

The three men all drew out long, sharp daggers, one in each hand. And pounced.

Arthur reacted quickly, raising his sword to protect himself from two of the men leaped on him, daggers raised. Despite the dark, he managed to keep them both at bay. He kicked the man with blue eyes in the chest, who stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet, the daggers flying out his hands.

"Get out of here Merlin!" He cried as he narrowly missed a dagger slicing his face.

Merlin however, had no way of getting out, before he realised what was going on, he found the man with bright blue eyes lounging at him. His heart skipped a beat as he just managed to dive out the way of a flying dagger, which imbedded itself into a tree just behind him. Calmly, the man went over to the dagger and pulled it out of the tree, before advancing on Merlin again.

As the fear and adrenaline pumped through his veins, Merlin found he could simply do nothing but back away slowly, trying to think of a way to get out of the mess that had been created. If he turned and ran he would simply be stabbed in the back, if he stood there and did nothing he would probably have his throat cut, if he tried to fight back, well there was no way of fighting back, he was utterly defenceless.

While he thought of something he could do, the man took his chance. With a sharp and surprisingly powerful kick in the shin, Merlin found himself flying onto his back, the dead leaves on the forest floor cushioning his fall. The man with blue eyes stood over him, his teeth and daggers shining in the moonlight. At that moment Merlin knew what he had to do.

He could hear Arthur fighting off the other two; the sound seemed to be coming from a long way away. Would Arthur notice what he was about to do? Or was he too busy? Could Merlin really risk everything? As the man stood firmly on his chest, preventing him from getting him, and crushing all the air out of him, Merlin knew he had no choice.

There was only one way out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

All Arthur saw was a flash of light and a burst of flame out of the corner of his eye. There was a cry, and he turned just in time to see the man with blue eyes stumble back, his hands at his face, trying to fight off a ball of flame. Merlin was lying just in front of his, his hands outstretched, he seemed almost controlling the direction the ball of flame was going, Arthur had never seen anything like it before, but he knew what it was.

Everyone had frozen; watching with shock as the man fell to the ground screaming. There was another scream, the man with green eyes abandoned his fight with Arthur and went to aid his brother, who was still trying to fight off the flames.

Arthur then turned his attention to the man with brown eyes who was looking at him with pure hatred in his eyes. For some reason he blamed Arthur for the fire, why, Arthur would never find out.

The man with brown ran at him, lashing out with his daggers. However, Arthur could tell that this man was no fighter, he knew nothing. He was doing nothing to defend himself, he was just running at him, arms above his head. With almost slight regret that he was killing a man who was literally defensive, Arthur stabbed the man with brown eyes in the chest.

For a moment the man just stood there, a look of total surprise on his face as Arthur's sword pierced his eyes, then he fell to his knees, and died.

Arthur watched the man die in front of him, then looked up. Both the men were staring at him, the ball of fire had finally died out, though the man with the blue eyes still had his hand to his face. Merlin was still lying on the ground, watching everything that was happening above him. With a hushed whisper to the man with blue eyes, the two men got up and ran. Arthur didn't run after them, he knew that he had just killed their brother. No matter how evil you are, it doesn't stop you from loving your brother.

After the sound of the brother's running footsteps had disappeared, Arthur turned back to Merlin. Merlin stumbled to his feet, he knew that Arthur had saw what he did, he was no point denying it, he wondered what was going to happen to him now.

"Come on, we better find our way back." Said Arthur, his voice expressionless, Merlin said nothing, he simply nodded and followed Arthur away from the campsite and the warmth of the fire, and back into the cold, dense trees surrounding them.

Arthur didn't say anything as he stormed through the forest, Merlin was too afraid to say anything to him just in case he lashed out it him. In the meantime Merlin tried to convince himself that perhaps Arthur hadn't seen him perform magic, maybe he was acting in such an angry mood because he had just killed someone, or that he blamed himself getting both of them lost in the forest.

It was almost daylight before Camelot came into view, the great castle rising above the comparatively small towns and villages, draped in a variety of reds, purples, pinks and blues as the sun rose just behind it.

Merlin was exhausted, he didn't know how long or far he had walked trough the forest, but it must have been several miles and Arthur refused to stop. As they came into Camelot he stopped and opened his mouth to suggest to Arthur that he should perhaps go and see Giaus, as he would probably be wondering where he was, but Arthur seemed to know what he was going to say, and snapped;

"Don't you run off Merlin, I haven't finished with you yet. I want a word with you."

Without trying to argue, Merlin followed Arthur into the castle, his head down, trying not to look at anyone as he walked past. He felt like a child that had just got into big trouble, but in a way, he had got into trouble.

They climbed up the stone spiral staircase up to Arthur's chambers, where Arthur let Merlin in before slamming the door behind him. For a moment he said nothing, his eyes were gazing at the floor. For a few moments Merlin wondered if he should say something. But then Arthur's head snapped up, and he could see burning anger and rage in his eyes:

"What were you thinking Merlin!" Arthur yelled, his voice echoing off the stone walls, Merlin wondered if anyone else could hear them. "Tell me that what I saw in the forest was you, that ball of fire, that was all you! I saw you! You've been using magic, tell me it's not true!"

"I—" Merlin began, but he had nothing to say. There was nothing he could say to defend himself.

"Tell me the truth Merlin," Arthur growled.

"Yes," Merlin murmured, his head nodding solemnly. "Yes it was magic."

"I don't believe it!" Arthur cried in anger, pacing up and down; "all along, all this time that I have known you Merlin, and you've been using magic! You've been lying all along haven't you? And it wasn't just me, you've been lying to everyone! All my life I've been told that magic is evil, and the one person I truly trusted has been lying behind my back, laughing at me all along."

"I haven't—"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear your excuses, because they'll just be more lies! I can't stand the sound of your voice! You're a coward Merlin; you always try to hide behind the truth by giving another excuse another lie! I feel like such a fool, how many times have you used magic right in front of me, and I haven't even noticed?"

Merlin didn't say anything, he just looked down at the floor, there was nothing he could say. The words that were coming out of Arthur made him feel like his heart had just been ripped out. When the time came for Arthur to find out, if that time was ever going to come, he thought Arthur would understand.

From the silence, Arthur knew the answer; he shook his head sadly. "After all the things we've been through Merlin," he said sadly, as if someone close to him had just died.

"I'm sorry Arthur," Merlin just managed to mumble, he wanted desperately to say something, but he didn't know what and whatever he did say would just be met with Arthur's terrible rage.

"I can't believe you betrayed me Merlin." Said Arthur, the anger was seeping through the sorrow, Merlin could hear it by the walking Arthur was talking through gritted teeth. "You're lucky that I'm not going to tell anyone else about what I saw, because if I did your head would be on the block."

"I know, I'm, I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that!" Arthur burst out suddenly, Merlin was so surprised at the sudden and violent outburst he took a step back.

"There's nothing else I can say!" Merlin shouted back before he could stop himself. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just get out of my sight!" Arthur yelled, shoving Merlin into a stone wall. "You're not my manservant any more! I don't want to see you any more! All the things we've been through, I even thought I…I…Oh who cares what I thought! Ever since I met you the strangest thoughts have been going through my head, you've cursed me Merlin!"

"I haven't—"

"I thought I told you to shut up!" Arthur yelled, in his blind rage he grabbed a goblet that was sitting on the table, and threw it with all his force at Merlin. "Get out Merlin GET OUT!"

Merlin just managed to duck out the way as the goblet came flying at his face; it smashed against the stone wall. Without looking back at Arthur, Merlin turned and ran.

Merlin was surprised at how far he managed to walk away from the castle and into the city, before it got too much for him. He went down and alley way, sat beside a well, and cried his heart out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It was past noon before Merlin found himself back home. Gaius looked up at him as he entered.

"Where have you been?" Gaius demanded.

"Nowhere," Merlin grumbled, looking down at the floor as he passed Gaius.

"I've been worried about you Merlin, you've been gone for hours, you didn't come back last night, I thought something might have happened to you."

"Nothing happened, I just went for a walk. I'm tired, I'm going to bed."

Gaius said nothing as Merlin entered his room; he had noticed large red rings around Merlin's eyes as he walked passed. Gaius was deeply concerned, but decided to leave it until the next day, perhaps Merlin was just tired and needed some rest, but there was something different about him. It seemed that something deep inside Merlin had just died.

Arthur's rotten mood continued throughout the rest of the day, he didn't want anyone to talk to him, he just went over and over in his mind what had happened, what he had seen, what he had done. As evening drew in, the realisation of what had really happened seemed to finally sink in.

Despite the fact that magic was banned, that Merlin had lied to Arthur all that time, he had used magic to save his life, and perhaps even Arthur's life. It wasn't really Merlin's fault that he had to keep the secret, if he had said anything he would have got into serious trouble, he probably would be dead. Surely if magic was something if you were born with, you couldn't stop it. Arthur had always been concerned when it came to arresting and executing anyone who had connections to magic, surely it wasn't their entire fault. Was it possible that he was perhaps wrong about magic? That he had over reacted when he found out about Merlin's secret? Oh no! Hadn't he thrown something at Merlin?

By the time night had drawn in, and Arthur found himself lying in bed, he had decided that the next morning he would go and apologise to Merlin. He _had _over reacted; he hadn't even given Merlin a chance to defend himself. He had said that he didn't want to see Merlin again, but he knew that he couldn't hide forever.

Arthur's last conscious thought, before he went to sleep, was that it wasn't all a loss, he could apologise to Merlin and then things could return to normal, its wasn't as if Merlin was just going to disappear.

How wrong he was.

The two brothers sat beside each other in the forest, neither said a word. One still had his hands clutched to his face. His brother had tried his best to heal the burn wounds on his face, but a small patch of skin next to his eye was still red and sore, it would leave a scar that he did not wish to think about.

Both brothers were in mourning for their other brother, they had no choice but to flee after he was killed, but returned shortly after to bury him.

"What now?" Asked the brother with the blue eyes who had been badly burnt, his name was Adiemus, he was the youngest of the three brothers and the least experienced when it came to magic. His other surviving brother with borwn eyes, Alik, took a while to reply, he was in deep thought.

"We carry on," Alik said suddenly, "we're so close to reaching our goal, we didn't let anything else stop us in the past. The Prince and his sorcerer were a force that we did not to encounter quite yet, and especially such a powerful one, but we must arm against them and fight against them.

"Yes, we may even be able to use this to our advantage."

"How?" Adiemus asked, confused.

"Arthur, one of the great legends to come, didn't even know that his dear little servant possessed magic of any sort, yet the two are very close. I feel that Merlin may be easy bait for Arthur."

Adiemus looked up into his brother's eyes, and suddenly realised what he was thinking, for a moment he was worried.

"Merlin's magic may be powerful, but he is of no match compare to us." Alik assured his brother. "Arthur may also think that he is strong, but if he finds out his precious Merlin is in danger, he will suddenly become powerless. After that taking over Camelot will be easy."

"Do you have a plan?"

"I always have a plan," Alik smiled, "we shall attack tonight, by the time the sun sets for the seventh time, we will have succeeded."

Merlin lay there, clocked in the darkness, unable to get to sleep. He was exhausted, but the longer he lay there the more awake he felt. He thought he heard Gaius come in at one point, but he had assumed that Merlin was asleep and had left again.

As Merlin heard the door close he thought of all the people that had been affected because of him, that had put their lives at risk because he gave away his secret that he was a sorcerer. He thought of all the people who had died, all the other sorcerers, the innocent people, he thought of the look on Arthur's face and realised on thing.

It was all his fault.

Merlin hated lying to people, hated the fact that he had to hide who he really was, and the way Arthur had treated him that very day when they had returned to Camelot proved to him that what he was doing was wrong. Arthur would never forgive him for what he did.

How many people had to suffer because of him? Merlin knew had to change this, he had to stop getting other people involved when they shouldn't, when they don't deserve to.

A cold wind suddenly blew through an open window; Merlin shivered, but not because he was cold. He hadn't opened his window, when he entered the room it was closed. There was more than just the sound of the wind as well; there was something else.

There was someone else in the room.

Merlin jerked up and looked around his room, he couldn't see anything in the dark, but he was sure that he wasn't alone, he could almost feel their presence, hear the sound of their breathing just behind his ear.

Merlin turned around and found himself face to face with a man with bright blue eyes, the same man who he'd unleashed a ball of fire at that very day.

"Hello Merlin," Adiemus smiled cruelly, Merlin began to back away. "There's no point putting up a fight Merlin." Adiemus said as Merlin heard a thud just behind him, and turned to see Alik facing him. "You're outnumbered."

"No, keep away from me." Said Merlin slowly, backing away from both the brothers who were slowly advancing upon him.

"There's nothing you can do Merlin, we don't want any more blood to be split now do we?" Said Alik.

Merlin shook his head, he didn't know what these two men were doing in his room, but it wasn't for a good reason, last time he had encountered them they had tried to kill him and Arthur, by the look on their faces, they weren't here to apologise.

He looked around, there was nothing he could use to defend himself in his room, but the breeze had made his door swing open, which led into the kitchen. Merlin could just about see through the dim, a few metres away, a knife lying on the kitchen table.

Gaius woke up to a very peculiar noise, something was happening in Merlin's room; he could hear voices and movement. He had assumed Merlin was asleep, and if Merlin did get up in the middle of the night he didn't have conversations with himself. Confused, Gaius got up and went to investigate.

There was another strange noise, and Gaius narrowly missed a knife flying through the air, he watching it as it flew through the open door and into Merlin's hand.

Inside Merlin's room it was dark, the only light was from the moon shining through the window, but he could see clearly enough. Merlin was standing face to face with two men that he had never seen before. However it wasn't the fact that these men who Gaius had never seen had suddenly appeared in Merlin's room, it was the fact that they both looked exactly the same, they were even wearing the same clothes. What was going on? He was about to say something when all three turned and looked at him.

"No," Merlin shook his head defiantly, whether it was to the two men or to him Gaius wasn't sure. "Stay out of this one Gaius!" Merlin suddenly cried, and the door slammed shut in Gaius' face. He reached for the door handle and shook it, but it was locked.

Merlin managed to dodge out the way as one of the brothers came flying at him, but he didn't have time to get away from the second. Alik slammed into him, and Merlin suddenly found himself on his back, with a tall terrifying man towering over him. He lashed out with the knife to defend himself, but Alik had suddenly disappeared.

Merlin slowly got to his feet again and looked around, the two brothers had disappeared; another cold breeze blew through the room.

Suddenly one of the brothers appeared in front of him and knocked the knife out of Merlin's hand, it spun across the room, once more Merlin was defenceless. The brother launched himself at him; Merlin managed to catch a glimpse of a pair of crazed, wild brown eyes before he was knocked off his feet and all the air was knocked out of him.

Alik was on top of him, trying to pin him to the ground, Merlin fought back, he kicked and punched at mainly empty air, his foot suddenly caught Alik in the stomach. With a cry of pain Alik lashed out at Merlin's face.

Merlin felt a sudden stinging pain; something warm and wet was trickling down his face. As Alik fell back slightly, clutching his stomach, Merlin managed to push away from him and stand up and catch his breath. He looked around; the brothers had disappeared once again.

There was such a long silence Merlin thought for a moment that perhaps the two brothers had actually left the room, he peered around, the moon had disappeared under a veil of cloud, the room had grown even darker.

Merlin was just about to use his magic to produce some light, when suddenly something slammed into him, pushing him against the back wall and smashing his head against the cold, hard stone. For a moment everything was a blur, it took a few moments for Merlin to work out what was happening.

Something heavy and much stronger than him was pinning down his arms, preventing any escape. Someone had clamped their fingers around his nose, he couldn't breath. He opened his mouth, gasping for air, trying to struggle against the man who was holding him against the wall.

This was the moment Adiemus had been waiting for, he pulled a small horn-shaped object from out of his pocket. It was made of silver and covered in different carvings and was corked at the top. He uncorked it, revealing a strange smelling dark liquid, and poured it down Merlin's throat.

In the darkness, Merlin didn't realise what was going on until he felt a thick foul smelling liquid slithering down his throat, he tried to spit it out, but could already feel the warmth spreading down his neck and into his stomach.

Suddenly, Merlin found all his energy to be drained out him, the room began to spin and fall into total darkness. He found that he couldn't even hold his own weight, he would have fallen to the ground if something hadn't grabbed him. The dark world began to collapse into itself. It was over.

An angry voice suddenly echoed through his head, _they're trying to kill you, fight back! _The voice seemed to bring Merlin back to his senses a little; he tried to use his last burst of energy to produce a spell before the darkness took over completely, he had to fight back. But then another voice crept into his mind, _what's the point? No one will care if you disappear. Arthur doesn't care anymore. _And with that his last ounce of strength left him, he closed his eyes and thought no more as the two brothers took him away.

Gaius finally managed to pull the door open, he thought he could just see something disappear out the window, but there was no one else in the room.

Merlin had disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The next morning Arthur, oblivious to what happened the night before, was strolling around the castle looking for Merlin. He kept on expecting to run into him when he was delivering something for Gaius, talking to Gwen or serving food in the Great Hall, but he was nowhere to be found.

Arthur wondered if Merlin might be hiding in his room, he was on his way there when he ran into Gaius, who looked very worried about something.

"You haven't seen Merlin have you?" Arthur asked.

"No my Lord, he's gone." Gaius sounded very stern.

"Gone? What do you mean 'gone'?"

"He's disappeared."

"Surely there's a perfectly rational explanation," Arthur said, trying not to sound worried by what he had just heard. "Has he gone back to his village?"

"No," Gaius shook his head sadly, "last night Merlin was attacked by two men, there was nothing I could do Arthur, they took him away."

Hearing this, Arthur turned and ran to Gaius' chamber, Gaius quickly following. He right straight to Merlin's bedroom and threw the door open.

The room was completely empty, but it was also a complete mess. There was a sign of a struggle, there was a knife lying on the floor, books and clothes spread all over the place, a small table lay on its side after it had been knocked over. As Arthur looked closer at the damage done in the room, he saw a few drops of blood on the stone floor.

"What did these men look like?" Arthur asked, all the colour had suddenly drained out of his face.

"Tall, brown hair I think, it was hard to tell because it was so dark, but what I can tell you for certain, unless my eyes were deceiving me, the two men looked exactly the same." Gaius tried to stop his voice from faltering, but Arthur could clearly tell that Gaius was deeply upset about what happened.

"Oh no." Arthur groaned.

"Are you alright sire? Maybe you should sit down." Gaius suggested as Arthur's face turned as white as a sheet.

"Maybe later," he mumbled, "but I need to go and talk to someone."

Alik was angry, he got angry a lot, and the same person always seemed to be the same person who was blamed.

He strolled over to Adiemus, who was sitting on the forest floor reading a spell book next to the fire. When it came to magic, Adiemus had the least knowledge and power. Alik however, had the most.

Adiemus looked up to see his brother towering over him, the anger written all over his face.

"What is it?" Adiemus asked, closing the spell book, he immediately knew it was something that he had done.

"See for yourself," Alik said, pulling Adiemus up by one arm and dragging him away from his spell books. After just a few paces, Alik stopped and pointed at a huge willow tree. "Look!" He said angrily.

Lying beside the willow tree, with dried blood on his cheek and leave in his hair, lay Merlin. His eyes were closed and he looked very pale, but every now and then he twitched or moved his leg.

"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me brother." Said Adiemus.

"You said, no you swore, that the potion could keep someone asleep for seven days!" Alik tried not to shout, dangling the horn-shaped bottle in front of Adiemus' nose.

"And what I said is true." Adiemus argued.

"Look at him!" Alik said, pointing back to Merlin, "He's waking up, it's only been three days!"

"Well it has nothing to do with me, I swear to you when I've used the potion before, it worked for a week, he's stronger than other people."

"But you swore it would work!" Alik repeated, even more annoyed by what he thought as a pathetic excuse. "What are we going to do when he wakes up?"

"I don't know." Adiemus mumbled, his eyes flashed suddenly with fury, "we could just kill him."

"We talked about this Adiemus," Alik said as calmly as possible, even though he was still annoyed with his brother. "We can't kill him, not yet, I know you're still angry about what he did to you, but killing him will not help anything at the moment. We have to be patient, we have to wait. Soon the whole of Camelot and all the people will be at our mercy."

"But what are we going to do with him when he wakes up?" Adiemus asked, nodding at Merlin.

"That's for you to sort out brother, you made the mistake with the potion, so now you have to do something about it. Just try not to kill him, or maim him for now." Alik said as he began to turn and walk back to the fire.

Adiemus stood there for a moment, looking at Merlin, the rage still flickered in his eyes as he gingerly stroked the side of his face that still had a burn mark on it, he then also walked back to the fire. Leaving Merlin alone.

"And you say all these three looked exactly the same?" Uther said, sitting on his throne, his hard eyes boring into Arthur as he stood before his father in the great hall.

"Yes sire, even the clothes they were standing in were the same, apart from their eyes." Arthur said.

"But now there are only two?"

"Yes, I killed the third in a fight, but the other two got away. They said they were brothers."

"And there were using magic?" Said Uther.

"Definitely magic, they were like no other men I had seen before, they acted more like beasts than men."

"Then we must keep an eye out for them, they were right on the edge of Camelot's land, but you don't know where?"

"Yes," Arthur said, looking down at the stone floor, he was embarrassed by the fact that he had managed to get lost.

"Is there anything else you wish to tell me?" Uther asked.

"Yes, last night the two men entered Camelot and attacked my manservant, they took him away."

"Do you know why?"

_Yes, because he used magic, _Arthur thought. "No," he lied to his father, "I do not know why they targeted him, but we have to go and find him."

"I'm sorry but that's out of the question, we have no soldiers to spare going after a mere servant."

"Then I shall go alone."

"You shall do no such thing."

"We can't just leave him to die!" Arthur blurted out angrily before he could stop himself.

"This is probably what they want," Uther said, more to himself than to Arthur, "they are obviously using this servant as bate. It will not work. I forbid you to go and find this servant of yours."

"But if we do nothing we are condemning an innocent man do death."

"It's a regrettable decision, but it must be done, we cannot let the sorcerers win." Said Uther, but he didn't sound like he regretted anything at all. "We can find you another man servant."

"Another servant?" Arthur said slowly as rage started pumping through his blood, then suddenly the words poured out his mouth without stopping: "can't you see that people are more than just mere servants? All you think about is ways of how you can get rid of magic; you don't care how many of _your _people die! How many innocent lives have been lost already because of your selfishness? No wonder so many sorcerers have tried to kill you!"

"You cannot speak to me like that!" Uther yelled suddenly, standing up. "And one day when you are King you will realise that sacrifices must be made and that magic is the biggest threat to this kingdom. Your people would respect you for it."

"But your people do not respect you! They fear you! Have you never considered that perhaps not all magic is evil? When I am King I will see that my people are more than just peasants and servants, I will respect them and they will respect me! And I will prove this to you by going and looking for this servant, I might be able to find out where he is and I will save him!"

"You cannot go out alone, I will not allow you."

"But—"

"Enough! I don't want to hear any more than you, you have insulted me enough. Go to your chambers and stay there until you realise that what you have said is wrong and you are ready to apologise."

"I will never apologise for the truth." Arthur said firmly, and he stayed where he was.

"Leave now or I will have the guards escort you away." Uther warned.

Arthur stayed where he was.

"So be it," Uther said as he waved at two of the guards standing at the door. He watched them take his son away without a glimpse of emotion on his face apart from anger.

Arthur didn't try to struggle as the guards took him away, but when he reached his chamber and heard the door lock behind him he lashed out angrily, kicking at the stone wall. Merlin was not someone Arthur was willing to sacrifice, but if he didn't get out of the castle and do something soon, Merlin would die. That was something Arthur was certain of.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The first thing Merlin felt, before he even opened his eyes, was a throbbing pain that seemed to reach every inch of his skull. He had never experienced such a headache in the whole of his life; it was as if he hadn't drunk anything for four days. Merlin could also feel a horrible stinging sensation on the side of is face, he put up his hand and felt the three scratch marks that Alik had given him. The pain seemed to bring back his memory, he had been attacked, he had tried to fight back but he couldn't, then something else had happened and the world had turned dark.

As Merlin opened his eyes, everything was a blur, he didn't know where he was or how he had got there. As everything slowly came into focus Merlin realised that he was lying on the forest floor. As he gazed around and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, he found that there was also a campsite, a campsite that he recognised. Merlin was still trying to work out where he was when a tall shadow fell over him. He looked up to see the figure of Adiemus standing over him.

A wave of fear swept over Merlin as he suddenly remembered what had happened the last time he had his eyes open; he tried to back away from Adiemus, but ended backing into a tree.

Adiemus bent down on his knees so he was the same height as Merlin and pulled a long knife out of his pocket, it glinted in the sunlight. Merlin could see the glint of madness and rage in his deep blue eyes.

"No point running Merlin, you won't make it out this forest alive, not while I'm here." Adiemus growled. "If you try to go two paces I'll put a knife in your back, you've caused enough trouble, I won't hesitate to destroy you if you create any more."

"What am I doing here?" Merlin managed to ask in the calmest and steadiest voice he could.

"Like I said, you've caused enough trouble, I want you to be somewhere where I can keep an eye on you. You're nothing to me but an irritating fly, but you're more to other people, and when he realises that your in danger he'll come running."

"He? You must mean Arthur." Merlin said, talking more to himself than to Adiemus.

"Who else?"

"He won't come looking for me." Merlin muttered, breaking his gaze with Adiemus and looking at the floor beneath him.

"What do you mean?" Adiemus asked.

"He doesn't care about me any more, no one does. No one will know that I've gone missing. Believe me your wasting your time, whatever reason you want Arthur to come here, it's not going to work."

"I better not be wasting my time," Adiemus said, he pointed up to the sky, to the burning sun poking out between the trees. "You will sit here and watch that sun, watch it very carefully Merlin, because when that sun sets for the seventh time, and you're still sitting here, it will be the last sun set you ever see in this world. By the time you wake up the next day, you'll be dead."

Adiemus stood up again, satisfied with his threat, but just before he left Merlin he turned around and said; "if you even think about using one of your pathetic spells, I'll slit your throat before can utter another word; are we clear?"

Merlin said nothing, he just nodded and stared at the ground as he hear Adiemus walk off and leave him alone.

The sun disappeared behind a cloud, plunging Merlin into darkness and fear. A few minutes later it began to rain. Merlin was glad of it, he was so desperately thirsty he tipped his head up and let large, heavy drops of rain fall into his mouth. Rain also hides the tears of a lost and broken soul, with just seven days to live.

Arthur was in a bad mood, in fact that was an understatement, but Morgana couldn't think of many words that would suit the mood he was in. _Rotten would be better, or fiery _she thought as she watched Arthur stare out his window into the rain that was constantly spattering against the glass.

Arthur had been in his chambers for two days now, he had bearly eaten and constantly seemed to be thinking about something. Morgana had managed to gain permission to go and visit Arthur when she wanted, she felt that he needed the company. However neither of them said much, Morgana would try and start off a conversation but Arthur would simply grunt or not reply at all. Every now and then he would turn to her and say something random like: "do you think these curtains would hold my weight?" or, "do you think I might be able to bribe the guards to let me out my room?" However Morgana had the same reply each time: "I don't know."

Suddenly, as Morgana looked at Arthur's reflection in the window, and saw how cold and hard his eyes had become in just a matter of days, she suddenly realised that she had had enough. It wasn't fair that innocent people should suffer because of what Uther had said, how many times had she thought to herself, as another person was hanged or executed on nothing but a rumour, _this is wrong_.

"Arthur." Morgana decided to try her luck at talking to Arthur.

"What?"

_Wow, one word, not as good as yesterday when he had said a full two words, but at least this time the word wasn't 'go' or 'away'. _Morgana thought, "I want to help you Arthur."

"Help me with what?" Arthur grumbled, not turning away from the window.

"Help you get out of the castle, to go and find Merlin."

"Really?" Arthur turned from the window and looked at Morgana, she almost thought she saw something flash in Arthur's eyes, something like, hope. "You would do that?"

"Of course, Merlin's my friend too, I wouldn't want anything to happen to him and I hate to see you like this Arthur."

"Thank you Morgana, it's nice to know I'm not alone any more." Arthur said, turning back to the window, "it still doesn't solve the problem of how I'm going to get out of the castle though."

"Well I wouldn't know, I don't have much experience of running away," said Morgana, as she tried to stifle back a yawn.

"Those sleeping drafts not working then?" Arthur said.

"No, I'm afraid not, but I think you could do with one, I can hear you at night sometimes, pacing up and down, have you slept at all these last two days? Arthur, what is it?" Arthur had suddenly frozen rigid.

"Sleeping drafts," he murmured as he turned to face Morgana again, his mind racing. "Do they usually work well on people?"

"Yes, Gaius said they're the most affective, but they don't seem to work on me."

"Sleeping drafts!" Arthur suddenly cried, almost jumping up and down in excitement. "Morgana you're a genius!"

"I am?"

"Do you have some of you sleeping draft at the moment?"

"Yes, a whole week's supply in my chamber." Said Morgana.

"Do you mind if I borrow them?"

"Oh no Arthur," Morgana had suddenly realised what Arthur was thinking, "Drugging the guards is _not _a good idea."

"Well how else am I going to be able to get out of here, with those guards standing at my door day and night?"

"Fine," Morgana sighed, "I'll put the sleeping draft in the guard's drink tomorrow night when I come and visit you, you can escape then."

"Thank you Morgana, you're a true friend." And for the first time in two days, Arthur smiled. "You won't regret this, I promise."

"I'm sure I will," Morgana murmured.

"What do you mean by that?" Arthur asked, "you said you would help me, you said Merlin was your friend too."

"I just…I've got a bad feeling about this." The colour had suddenly drained out of Morgana's face.

"What sort of bad feeling?"

"That whatever happens when you go and find Merlin, that someone is going to die. I don't want anything to happen to Merlin, but I hate to think I might be leading you to your death."

"Well if someone is going to die, it won't be Merlin." Said Arthur harshly. "Now get me out of here."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Maybe it was just Arthur's imagination, or perhaps this particular night was colder and darker than all the other nights. Arthur paced up and down his chamber as he waited for Morgana as patiently as possible and tried to keep warm. For a moment he thought it might be best if he escaped the castle another night, he might catch a chill or get lost in the darkness, which wouldn't help anyone. But then he thought of Merlin who was outside in the cold and the dark, no food, no water, no warmth.

If he was still alive.

No, he was still alive, he had to be. What would he do if it turned out Merlin was dead? The very thought clouded Arthur's mind with sorrow, how could he carry on with his life if Merlin was dead, and it was his entire fault? Arthur realised that he couldn't afford to leave it for another night, he had to get out of the castle as soon as possible, if Merlin was still alive, he might not be for much longer.

Suddenly, Arthur heard voices outside his door; he went up to it and pressed his ear against it, trying to hear what was being said on the other side. One of the voices sounded like Morgana, she was talking to the guards.

"Unfortunately the servants are busy so I thought I should bring you your supper myself, can't have you hard working boys going hungry!" Said Morgana, Arthur could picture her standing in front of the expressionless guards holding up a plate of food and a jug of water that hopefully contained a dose of sleeping draft.

"Where have all the servants gone?" Asked one of the guards.

"Err, many of our servants have grown ill so were unable to work, all the other servants are in the Great Hall."

"Hmm, alright then." Said one of the guards, they seemed to accept Morgana's alibi, they were probably more interesting in the food she was providing than anything she was actually saying.

"May I see the Prince?" Morgana asked sweatly.

"Yes." Said one of the guards, with a mouthful of food already, he pulled a key out and put it into the lock and opened the door for Morgana, she smiled at him before hurrying inside.

Arthur stepped back as the door opened and Morgana entered, carrying another plate of food.

"Did you do it?" Arthur asked quietly, so the guard's couldn't hear him.

"Yes," Morgana whispered back, "and I brought you some food, I thought you might need it on the journey."

"Thank you." Said Arthur, but he didn't feel remotely hungry.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Morgana asked suddenly, looking Arthur up and down.

Earlier that evening, Arthur had changed from his normal clothes into his armour; his sword and helmet was lying on his bed.

"I thought I might need it for protection." Arthur replied.

"But it will make you stand out." Morgana pointed out.

"Not when I put this on." Said Arthur, picking up his helmet, "I'll look like all the other guards."

"How are you going to get out of the castle?"

"Through the entrance, if I look like a guard people won't look twice at me, I'll just have to avoid people who I know will recognise me, and who I don't trust."

"How are you going to get a horse?" Morgana asked.

"I won't need one, I'll be walking, I think it will be better that way, I think I can remember where I can find Merlin. If I take a horse I'll stand out."

"Are you sure about this Arthur?" Morgana's face had gone slightly pale at the thought of her dream. "I still can't get rid of that…that feeling that someone's going to die."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Just don't do anything stupid." Said Morgana.

"What makes you think I'll do anything stupid?" Arthur asked, slightly insulted by this.

"Because you have done before," Morgana managed to smile through her worry as she said this.

"Well I promise you, I won't this time." Said Arthur, he walked over to the door and pressed his ear against it. "Do you think they're asleep yet?" He whispered.

"Should be." Morgana whispered back.

"Then this is my chance," Arthur suddenly turned and headed to the window, opening it as wide as he could. "When they find out I've escaped don't give yourself away, I don't want you to get into trouble for this. Tell them you thought you saw me climbing out the window. If someone asks why the guards are asleep tell them I stole your sleeping draft and drugged them myself. Don't tell anyone where I'm going."

"But I don't know where you're going!" Said Morgana as Arthur picked up his sword and put on his helmet and put a hand on Morgana's shoulder.

"Goodbye Morgana, I hope to see you again soon, but if I die—"

"Don't say that!"

"No, I'm serious, if I die, I just want you to know you've been a good friend to me over the years, I feel as close to you as if you were my sister. Look after yourself, and if Merlin comes back alive and I don't tell him…" Arthur paused for a moment, he wasn't going to make a little farewell speech, but it seemed to have fallen out of him suddenly and now he didn't know what to say. "Just tell him I'm sorry and…just tell him I'm sorry."

With that Arthur opened the door a crack and peered outside, there was no one around and the guards were fast asleep, slumped against the wall. He opened the door wider and stepped over the two heavily snoring guards.

"Good luck Arthur." Was the only thing Morgana could think of saying as she watched him stroll down the corridor and disappear round the corner.

Merlin was having a bad dream, only he hoped it was just a dream, because there was nothing but darkness and cold, he wanted to get out, the only hope he had left was that he might soon be able to wake up. The only certain thing Merlin knew, whether it was a dream or not a dream, was that soon he was going to die, he was certain of it, but there was no one to help him, to save him from dying. For some reason he couldn't run from the thing that was going to kill him. It was almost as if he had given up living already.

Someone was shouting, Merlin wasn't sure who or where they had come from, so far in the dream he had assumed he was alone, but now there was someone else, and they were angry.

"You're such an idiot! This is all your fault!" The voice cried.

_Oh no, _thought Merlin, _Arthur's words have come to torment me in my sleep as well. Perhaps if it would be best if I just died._

"If it wasn't for you, Anlach would probably still be alive! He cared to much for you, that's the problem!"

_Hang on, I've never heard of an Anlach, Arthur never mentioned him._

"You really think this is my fault!" A voice suddenly replied, that was when Merlin realised that the voice was not talking to him.

"Yes, you've been the most trouble since we set out on this journey, and now because of you my brother is dead!"

"It wasn't my fault he died, how was I to know that pompous prince and that sickly sorcerer were going to be creeping around the forest! It was you who said that we should get rid of them while we had a chance, and not just leave them. And Anlach was my brother too. It's all _his _fault!"

Merlin could almost feel the finger being pointed at him, like an arrow piercing his heart. He suddenly realised that he had been dreaming, and the argument he had been listening to had been seeping into his dreams. Merlin opened his eyes to see the two brothers standing there in front of him; their faces lit up by the fire that was still burning furiously. Adiemus was pointing a low finger at him. Adiemus turned to see Merlin staring at him.

"What are you looking at!?" Adiemus almost screamed at Merlin, who was still confused about what was going on, Adiemus pulled out a long knife and was about to advance on Merlin when Alik held out an arm to stop him.

"More deaths will not solve anything tonight!" He said harshly. Merlin could see Adiemus glare at his brother for a few moments; his face lit up in a yellow glow by the fire, before walking away. His brother paused before following him. They were further away now so it was harder to hear what they were saying, but he could just make it out:

"Why won't you let me kill him?" Adiemus hissed angrily at his brother.

"I don't care if you kill him, kill him tomorrow for all I care, the boy might be right, Arthur might not come. But I think we should just leave it for another day."

"We can't leave it, I hate that boy, he destroyed my face, the two of them ruined everything. He hasn't done anything yet but it won't be long before he makes a move, we cannot trust him."

"Fine, but leave it one more day, if Arthur hasn't come by tomorrow, then this plan is a dead end, we kill the boy."

It took a while for the words to sink in for a while, the only thing he could think was _but he said seven days_, and he suddenly realised how cold it was.

Arthur had almost made it through the castle without being spotted at all, whenever he heard anyone coming he hid behind a door or round a corridor, so they wouldn't see him. When people did see him they assumed he was just another guards, no one questioned who he was or what he was doing. He was so close to leaving the castle he thought for a few moments that everything was going to work out as planned for once. But then it went wrong.

A young soldier, who was probably younger than Arthur, was more sharp eyes than any of the other older guards or servants that had been walking around that night. The young guard could sense the Arthur's urgency and as he saw Arthur's face, he realised that he was not any of the other guards that he had seen, and yet his face was so recognisable. Arthur saw the guards staring at him, without realising, he stopped and stared back, suddenly he realised what he was doing, he had literally given himself away by staring too long, and the guard was staring back for too long. Arthur panicked and ran.

He just made it out of the castle when he heard the bells ringing out as a warning, suddenly the whole castle was awake. Soon people would have worked out what had happened and what be going after him, he couldn't risk that. Arthur turned and ran off into the night.

By the time Uther awoke, Arthur was gone, all he had left behind was a trail of footprints and two very drowsy and very worried looking guards.

"Do not rest until you find him." Uther growled to a group of ten guards who were about to set out after Arthur, "he doesn't know what he's doing, these are obviously powerful sorcerers at work, for all I know, he could already be dead."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Dawn broke over the forest the next day, scattering diamonds of sunlight across the floor and on Merlin's knees; he sat there, wondering if it might be the last time he saw daybreak, after what he heard last night, he wouldn't be surprised that it was. Even though Merlin didn't want to die, he didn't seem to want to put up a fight either, and he didn't know why. Or perhaps he did know why, and he just didn't want to admit it, as it seemed so childish.

The two brothers were being particularly quiet that morning, this worried Merlin, though he just decided it was probably because of the argument they had the night before. Or maybe it was because they were waiting for something.

Or someone.

A snap of a twig brought all three men to alert they looked up sharply and gazed around. Merlin was about to dismiss it as a bird or a small mammal and go back to his depressing thoughts, when he saw that the brothers had disappeared. Strange, how can people disappear so silently and quickly? It was just like on the night that they had kidnapped him, there was a scuffle behind him and Merlin realised that they one of them had hurriedly put out the last burning embers of the fire. Maybe they were waiting for someone.

Merlin could hear footsteps now, he was certain of it, they seemed to be circling the camp. He stood up slowly to get a better view of the forest, and it was another minute before the person came fully into view.

It was Arthur.

"Merlin?" Arthur's voice was a mix of worry and relief, thank God he had managed to find Merlin in one piece, but he was in a terrible state. He looked paler and thinner than before and his eyes were full of fear, there were three long scratch marks across his cheek and his hair and clothes were covered in dead leaves, though Merlin had hardly noticed.

"You actually came," for a moment Merlin's voice was full of joy, perhaps he wasn't going to die, and perhaps Arthur did care about him.

"Of course I came," said Arthur, "why wouldn't I?"

Arthur looked around; the forest was just how he remembered it, the three tents were still there, but one looked like it hadn't been used for quite a few days. He looked around at the clothes hanging in the trees like some dead animal, it was like a home and a prison at the same time, and it didn't look like the two remaining brothers had left Merlin all on his own. The cooking pots and a spell book were sitting next to fire no longer burning, but still smoking a little.

"You shouldn't have come," Merlin suddenly said, all the happiness had left him, and once again he was filled with dread as he remembered what the brothers had said. They had been waiting for this moment; something very bad was about to happen. "You can't stay here Arthur, you have to leave."

"What?" Arthur's face fell, he didn't understand.

"Just go now!" Merlin shouted.

Too late.

Adiemus burst out of the trees just behind Merlin, taking him completely by surprise, he grabbed Merlin's right arm, pinning it behind his back to prevent him from struggling free and held a knife to Merlin's throat.

"No! Let him go!" Arthur cried in horror, but Adiemus didn't move. Arthur drew his sword, but he didn't know what to do, if he tried anything Adiemus would slit Merlin's throat.

"If you want Merlin alive I think you should listen very carefully to what I say." Alik said, stepping out from the trees and standing between Merlin and Arthur, Arthur lowered his sword.

"What do you want?" He asked, his eyes glancing continuously from Alik, to Merlin, to the knife and back again.

"Three brothers, their minds full of knowledge and power of magic, hiding in the deep forest of a great kingdom, and you never thought why we were here? Why we risked our lives to travel here? Why we lured you out of the safety of your castle to find your precious manservant?" Said Alik coolly, as if he had been planning what he was going to say for so long, and he was glad he was now saying it, now that out of the four men he held the most power.

"No," Arthur admitted, this was no time to lie about anything.

"We may have power and knowledge," Alik continued, "but on the social scale we are nothing, we are the lowest of the low, people like you see us as nothing, as scum. We want more power, we want to look down on the people who treating us like filth, Camelot was once such a good place for people like us, but now it is nothing, anyone accused of using magic is executed, we want to change that. We want to go back to the old days where magic ruled the land. We want Camelot."

"What?"

"You may think us insane, and perhaps we are, but now Arthur, I have you in the very palm of my hand. We have a deal that you have to agree to, or Merlin will die, and you will have the privilege of watching before you die too."

Arthur was almost as pale as Merlin now, he looked at Merlin, who was still standing there motionless, he hadn't said anything, but his eyes were pleading to Arthur, they were telling him not to be stupid, he couldn't give Camelot away for just a servant. But at the same time Arthur could see the fear in Merlin's eyes, he didn't want to die, and Arthur didn't want him to either.

"I'm sorry," said Arthur, slowly shaking his head, "but you've got the wrong person, you may think I'm a Prince so I can do anything, but whatever I say you will still have a whole Kingdom that you will have to defeat."

"On the contrary," said Alik, his eyes gleamed as he thought of what he was going to do, "once you are out the way all we have to do is kill the King, then we will be able to take complete power of Camelot."

There was a long silence, a cold wind blew through the trees, but it was more the thought of Camelot being ruled by two evil brothers that him shiver, he tried to remain calm, his mind was thinking fast. He couldn't surrender Camelot to these men, but he couldn't let Merlin die, what could he do?

_Just keep them talking! _He thought, _Alik has the most power at the moment, but you can change that, distract him!_

"Well?" Alik asked, Arthur suddenly realised that everyone was staring at him, and Adiemus was still holding a gleaming knife to Merlin's throat.

"I'm sorry," said Arthur, he could feel himself relaxing, lowering his shoulders, even though he had no idea what he was saying, it seemed that he knew what to do, and he was waiting for the opportune moment. "I don't understand how your rule is going to work, there's one throne, but two of you."

"I'm sure we'll be able to arrange something," said Alik, looking over his shoulder at his brother.

That was when Arthur struck.

He brought his sword up, and was about to strike down at Alik's head, killing him where he stood, but Alik was quick. There was a clash of metal on metal as Alik brought up a long dagger, preventing Arthur from striking a deadly blow. He smiled cruelly.

"Too slow Arthur, too slow."

Then the fight broke out.

The first thing Arthur thought was to help Merlin, who Adiemus would surely kill now that Arthur had refused his brother's proposal and tried to kill him.

Before Alik could strike back, Arthur dodged past him and ran to Merlin, lashing out with his foot, he kicked Adiemus in the chest. Caught by surprised, Adiemus fell down, releasing his grip on Merlin and sending the knife flying into the air. Merlin struggled away from him.

"Merlin are you alright?" Arthur asked, worried that when Adiemus had fallen he had cut Merlin's throat.

"Arthur look out!" Merlin suddenly cried, pointing at something above Arthur's head.

Arthur turned just it time to see a tree brunch suspended in the air fly past him, there was a roar of anger from Alik, who tried to turn the enchanted branch around and attack Arthur once more. But Arthur knocked it out the air with his sword, breaking it in two.

"Fine little Prince! If you're happy to risk your life for Camelot then so be it, let's see who'd be the better ruler like this shall we? Whoever wins is the true future King of Camelot! Tell you what, to make it fair I won't even use magic, how does that sound?" Said Alik, brandishing his dagger. Arthur wasn't sure whether it was madness or just anger he could see in his eyes, but there was no time to work that out, or even to reply to Alik, as he was forced to dive out the way again as Alik lashed out at him with the dagger.

Arthur lashed back at Alik with all the force he could muster, having being trained to use a sword for many years. He didn't know how much skill Alik had, but he was determined to use all of his and get it over with quickly and get back safely to Camelot with Merlin.

Arthur was surprised at Alik's speed and strength, for a few moments Alik's chest had been defenceless; it would have been easy to kill him while he stood there. But in a matter of seconds Alik had brought up his dagger, which clashed against Arthur's sword and pushed it away from him.

Arthur brought his sword down then tried again, swinging at Alik's legs to try and knock him off his feet, but Alik laughed and dodged out the way before trying to stab Arthur in the head. Arthur brought up his sword just in time to stop Alik as the dagger narrowly missed his face. He tried to knock the sword out of Alik's hand, Alik moved aside but this time was too slow, and with a hastily stifled yelp of pain, blood trickled from Alik's hand. Again Alik tried to stab Arthur, but with another clash of metal Arthur pushed the dagger away from him.

This continued for several more minutes before Arthur realised thing's weren't going his way.

Although Arthur was a good sword fighter, Alik also knew what he was doing and he was quicker and Arthur had a horrible feeling that soon he would tire and Alik would be able to cut him down where he stood.

Arthur turned to Merlin, he suddenly remembered he was still standing there, both Merlin and Adiemus were watching the sword fight, both thinking of something they could do to help, but nothing would spring to mind and they both knew this was Arthur and Alik's battle. And Alik was older and stronger.

"Get out here Merlin!" Arthur cried.

"I can't leave you here!" Merlin said, he glanced at Adiemus who seemed to have completely forgotten that Merlin was right behind them, he was watching the fight intently. Arthur was too busy fighting with Alik to see Adiemus raise his hand to perform a deadly curse. Suddenly Merlin lunged onto of Adiemus, knocking him off his feet, a streak of blue light narrowly missed Arthur and collided with a tree, leaving a black and scorched hole.

The sudden movement out of the corner of Arthur's eye had distracted him, he turned around to see Merlin and Adiemus rolling around on the forest floor like children, throwing kicks and punches at each other.

The few seconds of Arthur staring at the Merlin and Adiemus was about to cost him dearly, Alik had been distracted and took these few moments to his advantage. Arthur turned back to his fight just in time to see Alik lashing out at his stomach with the dagger, he leaped backwards, but was too late.

Arthur felt a sharp searing pain just above his abdomen and looks down to see that Alik's dagger had sliced through his armour and blood was now trickling down him. How was it possible for the dagger to slice to easily through armour? Of course, Alik had said no magic, but he hadn't said no used of enchanted weapons, Arthur was lucky that his sword was still intact.

Maybe it was the pain that gave Arthur a huge wave of determination and strength, or maybe it was because tiredness was starting to get to him, and he wanted to use up the last of his energy before it was too late. Maybe it was Merlin's cry when he saw that Arthur was injured, that reminded Arthur what he was here to do. Whatever the reason, Alik was taken by surprise when Arthur lunged at him one more and his dagger almost flew out of his hands.

Merlin struggled up and away from Adiemus as he watched Arthur once again battling with Alik. He had Alik on a slight slope and he was now backing away slowly but wasn't about to give up the fight. Merlin knew he had to do something or else the two of them might go on fighting like this forever. He gazed around the two fighters, thinking of what he could do, and glanced down to see a tree root just behind Alik's foot.

This time it was both Alik and Arthur who looked up at Merlin's sudden cry, Arthur had no idea what Merlin had just said, but Alik seemed to know what magic spell he had just used, and was now looking around him, worried. He just caught the edge of the tree root that Merlin had sprung up out of the ground and hung there in the air like a rope, but Alik just managed to right himself, he turned to Merlin and laughed.

"Is that the best you can Warlock?" He cackled.

There was a terrible sound, like slicing.

Alik turned his head and looked up at Arthur, a look of complete shock on his face as Arthur drew his sword out of Alik's stomach.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion, Alik looked down at his gaping wound, blood splashed everywhere, he looked completely shocked about what had just happened to him. As Alik fell to his knees he looked up at Arthur again, blood trickling from his face, he tried to say something, for a few moments Arthur thought he was trying to smile about something, but then Alik fell backwards and became motionless.

The silence that followed seemed to last for an age, all three men just stood there trying to let what had happened sink in, they stared down at Alik, whose eyes were still wide open.

A sudden cry broke the silence.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS ARTHUR PENDRAGON!"

Arthur turned to see Adiemus standing there, a knife in his hand, pure wrath was written all over his face as he tried to fight back the tears of rage and sorrow as his second and only other brother lay dead.

Arthur was about to raise his sword again and prepare for another fight, when he saw Merlin standing behind Adiemus, Adiemus didn't even realise that Merlin was standing right behind him, ready to knock him to the ground. It was two against one now; it was obvious who was going to win.

But that was when Adiemus struck.

As fast as a bolt of lightning, he whipped round to Merlin, his knife raised, taking Merlin by surprise.

And drove his knife into Merlin's side.

For a moment Merlin stood there, clutching the hilt of the knife, as he wanted to pull it out, all the colour remaining in his face drained away, and there was nothing left in his eyes apart from a hint of fear and sadness. Then slowly he began to fall backwards.

"NO MERLIN NO!!"

Arthur threw down his sword, catching Merlin just before he it the ground. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. Arthur put his hand over the wound, trying desperately to stop the bleeding, but there was nothing he could do.

"Merlin stay with me please, Merlin can you hear me? Wake up!"

Slowly, Merlin opened his eyes and looked up into Arthur's, Arthur tried to give a comforting smile, but it was hard.

"You really did come." Merlin murmured happily.

"Of course I came Merlin, I could never leave you."

"But I thought you hated me."

"I don't hate you Merlin..." At first Arthur thought it had began to rain, a few drops had fallen onto Merlin's cheek, but then he realised it wasn't rain, it was tears, his tears.

"I'm really sorry." Said Merlin.

"What are you sorry for?"

"I betrayed you Arthur, I kept my magic hidden from you, I kept it a secret for so long. I should never have lied to you, you have a right to be angry with me."

"But I'm not angry with you, not any more. I'm just glad I managed to find you, but I should be the one saying sorry, I came too late."

"I'm just glad you're with me Arthur, here, at the end of everything."

"Don't be stupid Merlin you're not dying! You're going to be OK, I promise you, we can get back to Camelot and Gaius can help you."

"I won't make it to Camelot." Said Merlin, as a flicker of pain crossed over his face, but he tried not to show it.

"I'll carry you!"

"You can't carry me Arthur, you're hurt."

"I can go and get help!"

"There's no one who can help me now Arthur, I'm sorry."

"But I can't just let you die! There must be something I can do! Anything!" Arthur sobbed.

"Just stay me." Merlin muttered as he slowly began to close his eyes.

"No! No Merlin you can't do this to me, I know you, you're stronger than this, you are not going to die. Are you listening to me? You are not going to die! I thought I lost you once and I'm not loosing you again, you can't leave me all on my own!"

But Merlin didn't respond, his breathing grew shallower as Arthur's cries grew louder, he pulled Merlin up into a hug and held him there, as the shining knights came running through the trees.


	9. Chapter 9

_I was going to put this up sooner but it didn't work very well, hope you didn't mind the wait. Reviews are greatly appreciated _

Chapter 9

The soldiers Uther had sent out found Arthur by following his footprints and the sound of the sword fight with Alik. At first the soldiers refused to take Merlin back with them, they were sure that he would soon be dead and who cared? He was just a servant. But after a lot of ordering and a little bit of begging, Arthur managed to persuade Uther's men to take Merlin back to Camelot.

The journey to Camelot was quick because the soldiers had brought horses with them, but to Arthur the journey seemed to last an age. The thought of Merlin dying now, just as he was going to get help was slowly eating away at him from the inside, and every jolt that the horse Arthur was riding made created searing pain across his stomach, where Alik had wounded him in the fight.

When the soldiers returned to Camelot they took Merlin to Gaius, Arthur was about to follow but one of the soldiers stopped him:

"The King said he wanted to see you as soon as you get back to Camelot." The soldier said in a gruff voice.

Arthur knew that the first thing his father was going to do was to go into a blind rage and start raging about how Arthur never listens to him and needs to obey his orders. Why should any of that matter when Merlin was dying, and it was all his fault? But Uther wouldn't care; no one seemed to care.

"I'm sorry, the King's just going to have to wait, I'm going to see Gaius." Said Arthur, but the soldier grabbed his arm before he could walk off.

"I have to follow my orders and so do you, I'm sorry my Lord, but you have no choice."

With a heavy sigh Arthur didn't protest any more, and allowed himself to be escorted to Uther, dreading what was going to happen. Last time he disobeyed his father he was put in prison for a week, and because of it Merlin had almost died, he certainly didn't want that to happen again.

Uther was in the great hall, talking to Morgana, they both looked up when Arthur entered, Morgana looked very worried about something, but Uther didn't look as angry as Arthur thought he would.

"Thank you Morgana," Uther said, "would you please give me and my son some privacy, I wish to have a word with him."

Morgana nodded, but before she left she walked up to Arthur and whispered:

"I'm glad you're back, how's Merlin?"

Arthur shook his head sadly, "he's with Gaius." He replied.

Morgana looked even more worried than she had before, she nodded again and hurried out the room, the guards standing at the door followed her out and closed the doors behind them, leaving Uther and Arthur alone.

There was a long, and rather irritating silence as Arthur wondered if his father was actually going to say anything at all, he seemed to be thinking hard about what to say.

"Morgana has just told me everything." Uther said suddenly.

"She has?" _Oh no, _thought Arthur, _this can't be good._ "What did she say?"

"She told me about how it was she who told you that you should leave the castle and go and find the sorcerers, but you refused and said that it would only make things worse. Morgana then explained how the sorcerers managed to break in, they used magic so that no one would notice them, and they drugged your guards and tried to kill you, threatening to take over Camelot. I asked Morgana how she knew all of this and she told me that she heard the conversation between you and the sorcerers and when she went to investigate they ran away, but you chased after them."

"Oh," was all Arthur managed to say. _Wow, it's not like Morgana to make up such a lie, and place the blame on herself._

"You seem surprised." Said Uther, he seemed to be reading Arthur's mind, and Arthur certainly felt like he was by the way his eyes were staring at him.

"I just thought you would be angry with me as I disobeyed you orders." Arthur confessed.

"I am disappointed that you did so," said Uther. "But you were left to protect the Kingdom, and I am glad you did, if not, who knows what might have happened. They sounded like very powerful and dangerous sorcerers. What happened when you went after them?"

"I chased them back to their camp, where it broke into a fight, I managed to kill one of the sorcerers, but…things didn't go as I had hoped." Arthur said eventually.

Uther glanced down to see blood still slowly dripping from Arthur's clothes from the wound he had sustained.

"You should go and see Gaius." Uther told him.

"Thank you father." Said Arthur, and without caring what his father might think of him, he turned and ran out the hall.

Merlin was lying on a bed, motionless. Gaius and Morgana sat next to him, Morgana looked like she had been crying, both looked up to see Arthur standing in the doorway, he suddenly found that he was unable to enter, as if he was afraid of the horrors that he might face if he did.

"It's alright Arthur, you can come in," said Gaius, who seemed to know what he was thinking.

"I should be going," said Morgana, standing up.

"Thank you for not telling my father the truth," said Arthur, as Morgana reached the door.

"You're welcome." Morgana tried to smile, but something stopped her, she hurried out the room.

Arthur sat where Morgana had been sitting, and looked down at Merlin. He was in a terrible state. His clothes were stained maroon with blood, surely he had lost too much blood, it seemed to be everywhere. His face was as white as a sheet; he was shivering but was sweating at the time. His eyes were closed and his breathing was slow, the only good thing about Merlin was that he no longer had a knife sticking out of him, instead it was lying on a table a few feet away, stained with blood. Arthur put his face in his hands and could feel himself start to shake, he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Arthur, but there's nothing I can do, Merlin survived having the knife taken out, but he hasn't woken up. It's up to him now, I've got potions to help him keep up the fight, but that's all I can do. All we can do now is wait."

"You did your best." Arthur heard himself saying in a low, expressionless voice. "Do you think he's strong enough?"

There was a long silence, which seemed to answer Arthur's question before Gaius replied:

"I don't know, we'll see."

"It's all my fault Gaius." Arthur said suddenly, he could feel something inside his erupting like a great volcano, in the very pit of his stomach, is veins were burning and bubbling with rage, and for the first time in his life it was rage towards himself. "It's me who deserves to die, not Merlin." Arthur said, his anger seemed to be taking over, he stood up as if wanted to shake it off, but found himself pacing up and down angrily.

"It's not your fault Arthur."

"Yes it is! Don't you see what's happening? Merlin's dying and I did nothing to prevent it from happening, I shouted at him, I hurt him, then the brothers came and took him away because of what I had done and he spent the last few days of his life alone. I tried to save him but I ended up making things worse."

"You can't say that Arthur—"

"I can! It's the truth and you know it! What have I done?" Arthur strolled over to the knife and picked it up, staring at his reflection in the blood. "It would have bearly made any difference if I was holding the knife! I've killed Merlin!" Arthur roared, throwing the knife across the other side of the room.

Gaius was now on his feet, he didn't know what to do, he had never seen anyone so angry like this, he wondered if he should go and get someone who would be able to calm Arthur down before he hurt someone.

Then there was a strange sound behind him, like a long groan. Gaius and Arthur turned around and looked at Merlin, the sound of Arthur's voice seemed to have brought Merlin back from the staring eyes of death. Merlin groaned again, moving his head slowly from side to side. Arthur was sure he saw his eyes open for a few moments, before they closed again.

"Merlin?" Arthur ran over to him, the rage and anger seemed to have disappeared as quickly and sudden as it had appeared. He gripped Merlin's hand, he no longer felt as cold and he wasn't shivering, as Arthur clutched Merlin's hand he felt Merlin's fingers tighten a little around his in response.

Arthur looked up at Gaius, wondering if this was a good thing or not, maybe it was his last few moments of life before he died, but there was a twinkling in his eyes and a smile on his face that explained everything.

Merlin was going to be OK.

Arthur let out a long, deep sigh and sat back down in the chair.

"I think you should take back what you just said about yourself Arthur," said Gaius, "because you may have been the one that saved Merlin's life."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Gaius watched the young prince carefully as he stood at the doorway of his chamber. Arthur was sitting on a chair next to Merlin's bed, his arms folded. Although Merlin had improved greatly in the last day or so, Arthur was still worried about him. Gaius was concerned that Arthur hadn't left since he had arrived back at Camelot, he hadn't eaten anything, nor had he slept, but as Gaius watched the prince he saw his head lulling forwards and his eyes slowly closing. Gaius coughed loudly, Arthur jerked awake.

"Haven't you got things to do?" Gaius asked Arthur, entering the room.

"What things?" Arthur said, rubbing his eyes.

"Duties, tax collection, meetings with the King, feasts, training with the knights, they all need to be done."

"They can wait."

"I don't think your father would agree with that."

"He never agrees with anything I say." Arthur murmured grumpily, stretching as he stifled a yawn. Suddenly he let out a small cry of pain; he clutched his stomach as the colour drained out of his face.

"What's wrong?" Gaius asked, stepping forward, concerned.

"It's nothing," Arthur gasped, "just a scratch from the fight with Alik."

"I should check it—"

"No it's fine, it's just a scratch! Shouldn't you be taking more care of him?" Arthur nodded in Merlin's direction.

"You need taking care of too."

"I said I'm fine, I've had much worse." Arthur assured Gaius.

"I read about the brothers when you were gone," said Gaius, "where they come from they have a pretty good reputation and the have an obsession with power and dark magic."

"You shouldn't congratulate ma about anything, I haven't done any good." Arthur replied, staring at Merlin.

"What happened to the other brother? Adiemus I think was his name, you never said anything."

"I…I don't know, he disappeared." Arthur admitted, turning to look at Gaius; "do you think he'll come back?"

"No, not for a long time anyway."

"I hope not." Said a quiet and croaky voice from behind Arthur.

"Merlin?" Arthur turned to see the young warlock looking up at him, "Merlin! You're awake! How are you feeling?" He asked, not bothering to hide the happiness in his voice.

"I've been better," said Merlin, it was true that he did still look awful, he had grown thin from the lack of food and he was pale from the loss of blood. But there was a twinkle in his eye and he was smiling.

"I thought I would never see that smile again." Said Arthur, he felt as if he was in a dream.

"Sorry my Prince, but you can't get rid of me that easily."

***

In less than twenty-four hours Merlin had improved immensely, by next morning he had regained his appetite, eaten something and was talking happily to Arthur, who still hadn't left his side.

"Did I ever thank you?" Merlin asked after a long silence, laying on his side and looking up at Arthur.

"Thank me for what?" Arthur asked, wondering around the chamber, looking at all the medicines and potions, trying to remember which one Gaius had told him Merlin should take at midday, and failing miserably.

"Thank you for saving my life." Merlin replied.

"I don't deserve any thanks."

"Wow, I wouldn't have heard you say that a few weeks ago, what happened to the arrogant Arthur I knew? You've become modest, that's a thing I thought I'd never see, Arthur Pendragon doesn't even want my thanks." Merlin teased.

"Well it sounds like you need to get some sleep." Said Arthur.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not, you're overtired, it's making you say strange things, which I assure you are not true." Arthur grinned.

"No, I know exactly what I'm saying." Said Merlin defiantly.

"You really think I've changed?"

"A little, you're still a prat though."

"Very funny," Arthur said, trying to sound sarcastic but couldn't help laughing with Merlin. "Well, maybe you have a point, I've done some pretty stupid things, that haven't done you much good."

"I don't blame you for what happened, we've talked about this already."

"You should though."

"I could never blame anything on you Arthur. Even if it was your fault, even if you were the one who put the knife in me, I would forgive you."

"Don't say that."

"I just did, and I mean it."

"Like I said, you're over tired."

"No I'm not! I mean what I say, it wasn't your fault, and you can't keep blaming yourself for what happened. It was the brothers, and we managed to stop them, surely that's all that matters now?"

"Yes I suppose so," Arthur sighed, "and it was lucky that we did stop them, with all that anger and power, who knows what they might have achieved."

"See, I was right." Said Merlin, he sounded pleased but the thought had drenched him in fear, he shivered.

"Are you alright Merlin?" Arthur asked, concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine, just a bit cold." Merlin lied, not wanting to seem like a coward, and he did feel a little cold.

"Here, this will warm you up," said Arthur,

He disappeared from Merlin's field of vision for a moment, he lay there, waiting for something to happen and wondering what Arthur was doing. There was movement behind him, and he noticed the bed move under him. Suddenly Merlin felt Arthur's warm arms rap around him.

"Is that better?" Arthur asked softly.

"Yes," sighed Merlin happily, "thank you Arthur."

"You're welcome."

There was a long silence; finally it seemed that things were going back to normal, just the way they were meant to be. Merlin smiled at the felt Arthur's warm breath on the back of his neck. Suddenly he knew something, and he had to say it.

"Arthur?"

"Hmm," said Arthur, the days without sleep were starting to catch up with him, now that Merlin was going to be OK, he could sleep.

"I love you."

"I know," Arthur paused, "I love you too."

"Do you really it's going to work?"

"Do I really think what's going to work?" Asked Arthur, now getting irritated, he would much rather finish this conversation once he'd had some sleep.

"Us two, me and you. I'm a wizard and you're the King's son. One day you're going to be King, and you're not going to want me any more."

"That will never happen Merlin, we need each other, and I'm not going to leave you. I don't car that you do magic, in fact I'm happy, I know who you really are now and magic will not change how I feel about you."

"Good," Merlin sighed. "You don't know how relieved I am to hear that, I never thought someone would be able to truly understand who I am and love me for who I am. I have to admit that I thought you would be the last person to appreciate what I am, and not think of me any different. I think that it is because of this, we can work against all the odds and nothing will be able to separate us, not anything. Don't you agree? Arthur? Arthur!"

Arthur had fallen fast asleep; his arms still rapped around Merlin, his light breathing tickling the back of his neck. Merlin tried to nudge Arthur with his elbow to wake him up, but nothing happened, Arthur continued to sleep soundly. In the end Merlin gave up, he closed his eyes and joined Arthur in the fantasy bliss of sleep.

Wow that was my last chapter! Can't believe it's over, I've really enjoyed it! I might write a Brothers in Arms two, what do you think? Please also say what you thought of the chapter and what you thought overall.

Thanks for reading my fanfic and for the reviews, hope you enjoyed reading. I have a strong feeling it's going to be the first of many


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